1,000 children a year brain damaged by alcohol in the womb in Greater Manchester

1,000 children a year brain damaged by alcohol in the womb in Greater Manchester

A THOUSAND children are born a year with brain damage in Greater Manchester because their mums drank while expecting – now health bosses have launched a pilot to end the "hidden epidemic".

Bill Esterson MP revealed his adopted children may have lifelong disabilities caused by their mother drinking while pregnant as he backed the £1.6 million combined authority and NHS campaign.

The Sefton Central MP was speaking in Manchester city centre at the launch of the revolutionary new pilot for the region – the first in England – which aims to support mothers-to-be stop drinking.

Oldham, Tameside, Bury and Rochdale will be the focus of the project, which offers guidance and support to mothers and partners when they are trying to conceive, while pregnant, and after giving birth.

Health chiefs estimate that more than 1,000 children in the city region are born with health problems every year that could have been avoided if their mothers had not drunk alcohol while pregnant.

It’s been described as a "hidden epidemic" as many of these conditions are irreversible, including foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).

The condition is a form of brain damage, that is lifelong and includes a range of physical, mental, behavioural and learning impairments.

It often causes difficulties with speech, language, memory, attention, planning and decision-making.

Campaigners believe FASD may be a major underlying factor behind societal problems, such as people becoming homeless, struggling with benefit changes, and falling foul of the criminal justice system.

Mr Esterson told the event that his family believe his children have the condition after learning their biological mother drank during pregnancy.

“In the case of my now 15-year-old son, she drank heavily and we are living with the consequences, my wife and I and our two children, of FASD,” he said.

Detailing his personal experience he explained they have struggled for a diagnosis as there is only one specialist centre for the condition.

“Having one clinic under-resourced in Surrey available to give diagnoses for the whole country is a completely absurd and unsustainable position,” Mr Esterson added.

Turning to other services without a diagnosis, such as youth mental health services was not a solution, he said, as “they didn’t understand the demons they were unleashing for our son”.

Anna Webster, who adopted a boy who had been exposed to alcohol in the womb, was featured in a film backing the GM health campaign.

She said: “Our son was nine months when he came to us, he became quite easily irritated by things.

“I found that really stressful because at that point I just wanted him to be typical.

“He’d just be so hyper, it was just like this kind of volcano sometimes in the room.”

“When you start to understand that your child has got permanent brain damage, that’s really distressing and there’s a lot of grief involved in that.”

Dr Raja Mukherjee, a consultant neurodevelopmental psychiatrist who heads up the clinic in Surrey said that diagnosis can "change the trajectories of people’s lives".

Jon Rouse, chief officer of the Greater Manchester health and social care partnership said trying to eliminate alcohol in pregnancy was an important part of a bigger campaign to reduce alcohol misuse across GM.

“There is no safe time or no safe amount to drink during pregnancy. The message is simple but it isn’t getting through,” he said.

“For thousands of our children we feel we have got a moral imperative to act.”

The issue had a "broader societal impact", he added because it often meant children are unable to stay in school and are more likely to be involved with the criminal justice system.

“We’re not trying to make people feel guilty and we don’t want people to panic – what we’re saying is the safest thing to do is not to drink at all during pregnancy,” Mr Rouse said.

“For me this is quite personal because I’m an adoptive parent and through adoption support groups I’ve seen first hand the impact of FASD on adoptive families and just how difficult it is to parent those children.

“It’s bold because it’s so new, we are pioneering and in Greater Manchester we don’t shy away from difficult topics.”

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